Carroll County Schools officials on Thursday said they believe protections are already in place to ensure that a security breach like the one that took place at a local school earlier this month is extremely unlikely to happen again.
WLBB Radio reported Thursday morning that bond had been denied for a 29-year old Carrollton man charged with false imprisonment, stalking and criminal trespass- after he was accused of entering Roopville Elementary School after school-hours and restraining a former girl-friend. The alleged incident happened on March 02, 2022. Gary Monroe Warren was arrested this week.
According to the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office investigation report, a deputy responded to the school at approximately 5:30pm– in reference to a male inside of the building, who had no authority to be.
The victim told investigators, that her former boyfriend had let himself into the school by using the security door code that she was provided for her employment. She suggested that he must have obtained it by looking over her shoulder at some point and memorizing it.
She said Warren had found her in one of the classrooms and grabbed her and started squeezing her. She stated he would not let her go and restricted her movement. She stated she attempted to call her co-worker but Warren slapped the phone from her hand. She said she then started screaming and that is when a female co-worker responded. The co-worker “ran Warren out of the building,” according to the report.
The deputy advised school staff to change the door codes; and, the deputy documented that he was told that the victim’s employment would be terminated due to her leaking the school codes.
“The employee who worked for the contracted custodial company did not follow safety protocols,” Carroll County Schools’ Director of Partnerships & Communication Charity Aaron emailed WLBB Radio Thursday. “The district reported the incident to the custodial company, and they handled the matter as a personnel issue.”
Aaron said Roopville Elementary Principal Marla Turpin and Schools’ District Coordinator of Safety and Security Russell Grizzard have discussed additional security measures.
In July of 2021, the Carroll County School System held its 9th Annual Safety Summit where School Safety Teams along with first responders from local public safety and health agencies reviewed emergency plans and discussed safety measures in preparation for the 2022 school year.
The Carroll County School System was the first school system in Georgia to implement an annual Safety Summit. Since 2010, the district has invested more than $10 million for enhanced safety measures, including SHIELD systems, access-controlled doors, the Centegix Crisis Alert System, high definition cameras, and many other initiatives.
